Henry Clay was among supporters of sending freed slaves to Liberia In Tuesday's Washington Post, an editorial urging President Bush to send peacekeepers to civil war-wracked Liberia noted that the country was "founded by freed U.S. slaves." Is that true? Not quite. Although some freed American slaves did settle there, Liberia was actually founded by the American Colonization Society, a group of white Americans—including some slaveholders—that had what certainly can be described as mixed motives. In 1817, in Washington, D.C., the ACS established the new colony (on a tract of land in West Africa purchased from local tribes) in hopes that slaves, once emancipated, would move there. The society preferred this option to the alternative: a growing number of free black Americans demanding rights, jobs, and resources at home. Notable supporters of transporting freed blacks to Liberia included Henry Clay, Francis Scott Key, Bushrod Washington, and the architect of the U.S. Capitol, William Thornton—all slave owners. These "moderates" thought slavery was unsustainable and should eventually end but did not consider integrating slaves into society a viable option.

So, the ACS encouraged slaveholders to offer freedom on the condition that those accepting it would move to Liberia at the society's expense. A number of slave owners did just that. Advertisement When the first settlers were relocated to Liberia in 1822, the plan drew immediate criticism on several fronts. Many leaders in the black community publicly attacked it, asking why free blacks should have to emigrate from the country where they, their parents, and even their grandparents were born. Meanwhile, slave owners in the South vigorously denounced the plan as an assault on their slave economy. Abolitionist resistance to colonization grew steadily. In 1832, as the ACS began to send agents to England to raise funds for what they touted as a benevolent plan, William Lloyd Garrison revved up the opposition with a 236-page book on the evils of colonization and sent abolitionists to England to track down and counter ACS supporters. But the scheme had some fans. Slave states like Maryland and Virginia were already home to a significant number of free blacks, and whites there—still reeling from Nat Turner's 1831 rebellion, which emancipated slaves had a hand in—formed local colonization societies.

Thus encouraged, Maryland legislators passed a law in 1832 that required any slave freed after that date to leave the state and specifically offered passage to a part of Liberia administered by the Maryland State Colonization Society. However, enforcement provisions lacked teeth, and many Marylanders forgot their antipathy to free blacks when they needed extra hands at harvest time. There is no evidence that any freed African-American was forcibly sent to Liberia from Maryland or anywhere else. By the 1840s, the American Colonization Society was largely bankrupt, and the transported Liberians were demoralized by hostile local tribes, bad management, and deadly diseases. The U.S. government would not claim sovereignty over the colony, so in 1846 the ACS demanded that Liberians declare their independence. In the end, around 13,000 emigrants had sailed to Liberia. Today, vestiges of the emigration can be seen in Liberia's Maryland County, in the American-sounding names we read in the papers, and, as reported on National Public Radio, in one Liberian restaurant's offer of Maryland-style fried chicken.

Milestones: 1830–1860 - Office of the Historian Milestones: 1830–1860 Founding of Liberia, 1847 The founding of Liberia in the early 1800s was motivated by the domestic politics of slavery and race in the United States as well as by U.S. foreign policy interests. In 1816, a group of white Americans founded the American Colonization Society (ACS) to deal with the “problem” of the growing number of free blacks in the United States by resettling them in Africa. The resulting state of Liberia would become the second (after Haiti) black republic in the world at that time. Joseph Jenkins Roberts, First President of Liberia Prominent Americans such as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John Randolph were among the best known members of ACS. Former President Thomas Jefferson publicly supported the organization’s goals, and President James Madison arranged public funding for the Society. The motives for joining the society were vast as a range of people from abolitionists to slaveholders counted themselves members.

On the other hand, many abolitionists, both black and white, ultimately rejected the notion that it was impossible for the races to integrate and therefore did not support the idea of an African-American colony in Africa. Still, the ACS had powerful support and its colonization project gained momentum. In 1818 the Society sent two representatives to West Africa to find a suitable location for the colony, but they were unable to persuade local tribal leaders to sell any territory. In 1820, 88 free black settlers and 3 society members sailed for Sierra Leone. Before departing they had signed a constitution requiring that an agent of the Society administer the settlement under U.S. laws. They found shelter on Scherbo Island off the west coast of Africa, but many died from malaria. In 1821, a U.S. Navy vessel resumed the search for a place of permanent settlement in what is now Liberia. Once again the local leaders resisted American attempts to purchase land. This time, the Navy officer in charge, Lieutenant Robert Stockton, coerced a local ruler to sell a strip of land to the Society. The Scherbo Island group moved to this new location and other blacks from the United States joined them.

The local tribes continually attacked the new colony and in 1824, the settlers built fortifications for protection. In that same year, the settlement was named Liberia and its capital Monrovia, in honor of President James Monroe who had procured more U.S. Government money for the project. Lieutenant Robert Stockton Other colonization societies sponsored by individual states purchased land and sent settlers to areas nearMonrovia. Africans removed from slave ships by the U.S. Navy after the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade were also put ashore in Liberia. In 1838 most of these settlements, with up to 20,000 people, combined into one organization. The settlers attempted to retain the culture they had brought from the United States and for the most part did not integrate with the native societies. Today, about 5 percent of the population of Liberia is descended from these settlers. The U.S. Government had provided Liberia some financial support, but Washington expected Monrovia to move toward self-sufficiency. Commerce was the first economic sector to grow in the colony. However, French and British traders continually encroached upon Liberian territory.

As it was not a sovereign state, it was hard-pressed to defend its economic interests. The U.S. Government lent some diplomatic support, but Britain and France had territories in West Africa and were better poised to act. As a result, in 1847, Liberia declared independence from the American Colonization Society in order to establish a sovereign state and create its own laws governing commerce. Despite protests by the affected British companies, London was the first to extend recognition to the new republic, signing a treaty of commerce and friendship with Monrovia in 1848. Because of fears of the impact this might have on the issue of slavery in the United States, Washington did not recognize the nation it had played a role in creating. In the meantime, a mass exodus of African-Americans to Liberia never materialized. Though President Abraham Lincoln was open to promoting the idea, several abolitionists in his cabinet opposed it, some for moral considerations and others for the more practical reason of retaining sufficient labor and military forces for the future. The United States finally established diplomatic relations with Liberia in 1862, and continued to maintain strong ties until the 1990s.

Liberia history - Liberia is founded by Freed Slaves 1821 Liberia history © thenagain info All rights reserved. Liberia history Liberia is founded by Freed Slaves 1821 The country of Liberia was founded in 1821 by former slaves from the United States of America as a result of the end of the transatlantic slave trade and the efforts of the American Colonization Society (ACS). The ACS was the most actively involve organization in bringing a halt to the slave trade. The ACS organization was established in 1816 to sponsor the settlement of "free persons of color" in Africa. The ACS concerns were on a humanitarian, social and religious basis. In association with church and other antislavery groups the ACS lobbied effectively for legislation to halt the slave trade. Although the ACS did not receive direct financial aid from the United States government, it was still appointed as the custodian of re-captives under its protection by the government. Back to "European Colonization" Chronology There were many reasons for founding Liberia. Many humanitarians strongly believed that the slave trade was a crime against humanity and a crime before God.

Likewise many others looked at ending the slave trade as a means of better "civilizing" Africa which would later, better aid in the spread of Christianity. Also, many white American supporters wished to correct the injustices done to the blacks through the institution of slavery in the United States. The main economic reason behind the abolition movement was the need for new markets for surplus manufactured goods caused by the spread of the Industrial Revolution. An increasing number Americans considered the existence of freed blacks in the United States a threat. Some believed that the freed blacks could realize their potential better in Africa, while others believed that black Christians could promote Christianity in Africa. It was this movement to send freed blacks back to their "native country" which led to the founding of Liberia. The earliest recorded arrivals of freed slaves in Liberia was as early as 1822. However, it wasn't until the 1840s and 50s that the settlement populations in Liberia were dramatically increased. Later on, Liberia was even used as a temporary shelter for re-captives. By the year 1870 Liberia had attracted 13,000 immigrants from the United States.

After the year 1870 emigration dramatically decreased, since blacks realized that life in Liberia was hard. Approximately 60% of these immigrants were emancipated slaves, many of whom had been freed or had purchased their freedom in order to migrate to Liberia. The Americo-Liberians never formed a majority of the population. A great number of blacks died in Liberia due to sicknesses that they had contracted. The Americo-Liberians were also smaller in number than the natives and other foreigners that migrated to Liberia from other African nations. Since there already existed a native population in Liberia, this led to an increased tension between the natives and the foreigners (as the natives labeled the newly arrived Americo-Liberians). In 1847 the Americo-Liberians declared the independence of the Republic of Liberia. Liberia's capital, Monrovia, was named after the United States president James Monroe and its government was modeled on that of the United States, suggesting the close ties between the two countries. However it wasn't long until, in 1877, the True Whig Party monopolized political power in the country, and competition for office was stifled by the party.

Although it was democratic in structure, it was not democratic in practice. Overall, the founding of Liberia, although thought by many to be a just and reasonable action for the United States to take, turned out to be a somewhat unsuccessful action, as the anticipated results never occurred. Sources: Boachen, A. Adu. Topics in West Africa. (Longmans, Green, Co ltd, London and Harlow. 1969). liberia history Nelson, D. Harold. Liberia: A Country Study. (Foreign Area Studies, the American University. Sept. 1984). history of liberia Text copyright 1996-2016 by thenagain info All rights reserved. Colonization - The African-American Mosaic Exhibition | Exhibitions (Library of Congress) Enlarge A Black Colonizationist, Memoir of Captain Paul Cuffee, A Man of Colour: To Which is Subjoined The Epistle of the Society of Sierra Leone in African & etc., title page. York: W.

Alexander, 1812 [1817] Rare Book and Special Collections Division , Library of Congress (1) Bookmark this item: #obj0 In July 1820, the ACS published The African Intelligencer, edited by Jehudi Ashmun (1794–1828), a young teacher who hoped to become a missionary to Africa. Its thirty-two pages contained articles on the slave trade, African geography, the expedition of the Elizabeth (the ship that carried the first group of colonists to Liberia), and the ACS constitution. Upset by the expense and the lack of public support for the journal, ACS managers canceled the monthly journal after one issue. Ashmun went to Africa in 1822, where he became an early leader of the Liberian colony before dying from a fever in 1828. This copy belonged to William Thornton, architect of the United States Capitol and a supporter of colonization. Enlarge The African Intelligencer, vol. 1, no. 1, July 1820, title page. Journal.

Rare Book and Special Collections Division , Library of Congress (2) Bookmark this item: #obj1 Selling life memberships was a standard fund-raising practice of benevolent societies such as the American Colonization Society. At thirty dollars each, the memberships were a popular gift for ministers. In 1825, one of the agents who sold the certificates in New England estimated that "not less than $50,000 have in this way been poured into the treasury of the Lord." This certificate bears a facsimile signature of Henry Clay, a founder of the ACS and its strong advocate in Congress. Clay succeeded former president James Madison as president of the society, serving from 1836 to 1849. [Life Membership Certificate for American Colonization Society], ca. 1840. Certificate. American Colonization Society Papers, Manuscript Division , Library of Congress (3) Bookmark this item: #obj2 Jehudi Ashmun envisioned an American empire in Africa. During 1825 and 1826, Ashmun took steps to lease, annex, or buy tribal lands along the coast and on major rivers leading inland. Like his predecessor Lt.

Robert Stockton, who in 1821 persuaded African King Peter to sell Cape Montserado (or Mesurado) by pointing a pistol at his head, Ashmun was prepared to use force to extend the colony's territory. His aggressive actions quickly increased Liberia's power over its neighbors. In this treaty of May 1825, King Peter and other native kings agreed to sell land in return for 500 bars of tobacco, three barrels of rum, five casks of powder, five umbrellas, ten iron posts, and ten pairs of shoes, among other items. [Treaty between American Colonization Society and African Kings], May 11, 1825. Holograph. American Colonization Society Collection, Manuscript Division , Library of Congress (4) Bookmark this item: #obj3 Jehudi Ashmun envisioned an American empire in Africa. During 1825 and 1826, Ashmun took steps to lease, annex, or buy tribal lands along the coast and on major rivers leading inland. Like his predecessor Lt.

Robert Stockton, who in 1821 persuaded African King Peter to sell Cape Montserado (or Mesurado) by pointing a pistol at his head, Ashmun was prepared to use force to extend the colony's territory. His aggressive actions quickly increased Liberia's power over its neighbors. In this treaty of May 1825, King Peter and other native kings agreed to sell land in return for 500 bars of tobacco, three barrels of rum, five casks of powder, five umbrellas, ten iron posts, and ten pairs of shoes, among other items. The African Repository and Colonial Journal, vol. 1, no. 4, June 1825, p. 129. Rare Book and Special Collections Division , Library of Congress (5) Bookmark this item: #obj4 For many years the ACS tried to persuade the United States Congress to appropriate funds to send colonists to Liberia. Although Henry Clay led the campaign, it failed. The society did, however, succeed in its appeals to some state legislatures. In 1850, Virginia set aside $30,000 annually for five years to aid and support emigration.

In its Thirty-Fourth Annual Report, the society acclaimed the news as "a great Moral demonstration of the propriety and necessity of state action!" During the 1850s, the society also received several thousand dollars from the New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Maryland legislatures. [Act by State of Virginia making appropriations for removal of free persons of color to Liberia], 1850. American Colonization Society Papers, Manuscript Division , Library of Congress (7) Bookmark this item: #obj5 During the 1830s, William Lloyd Garrison's violent condemnations of colonization as a slaveholder's plot to perpetuate slavery created deep hostility between abolitionists and colonizationists. Intended to encourage emigration and answer anti-colonization propaganda, the ACS pamphlet answers questions about household items needed in Liberia, climate, education, health conditions, and other concerns about the new country.

Citing abolitionist charges that colonizationists merely wanted "to get clear of the colored people of the United States from their political and social disadvantages… to place them in a country where they may enjoy the benefits of free government… and to spread civilization, sound morals, and true religion throughout Africa." Information About Going to Liberia: Things Which Every Emigrant Ought to Know…, title page Washington: American Colonization Society, 1848. Rare Book and Special Collections Division , Library of Congress (8) Bookmark this item: #obj6 By the 1840s, Liberia had become a financial burden on the ACS. In addition, Liberia faced political threats, chiefly from Britain, because it was neither a sovereign power nor a bona fide colony of any sovereign nation. Because the United States refused to claim sovereignty over Liberia, in 1846 the ACS ordered the Liberians to proclaim their independence. This map of the newly independent country shows the dates that the various territories were acquired. Settlements were located primarily along the coast and the many rivers leading inland. Inset maps highlight important areas of the country. Republic of Liberia. Drawn under superintendence of Com. Lynch, USN, 1853.

Map. Geography and Map Division , Library of Congress (9) Bookmark this item: #obj7 Liberia: History Liberia History Founding to 1980 Liberia was founded in 1821, when officials of the American Colonization Society were granted possession of Cape Mesurado by local De chiefs for the settlement of freed American slaves. African-American immigrants were landed in 1822, the first of some 15,000 to settle in Liberia. The survival of the colony during its early years was due primarily to the work of Jehudi Ashmun , one of the society's agents. In 1847, primarily due to British pressures, the colony was declared an independent republic. The Americo-Liberian minority controlled the country's politics, and new immigration virtually came to an end with the American Civil War. Liberia was involved in efforts to end the W African slave trade. Attempts to modernize the economy led to a rising foreign debt in 1871, which the republic had serious difficulty repaying. The debt problem and constitutional issues led to the overthrow of the government in 1871.

Conflicts over territorial claims resulted in the loss of large areas of land to Britain and France in 1885, 1892, and 1919. However, rivalries between the Europeans colonizing West Africa and the interest of the United States helped preserve Liberian independence during this period. Nevertheless, the decline of Liberia's exports and its inability to pay its debts resulted in a large measure of foreign interference. In 1909 the government was bankrupt, and a series of international loans were floated. Firestone leased large areas for rubber production in 1926. In 1930 scandals broke out over the exportation of forced labor from Liberia, and a League of Nations investigation upheld the charges that slave trading had gone on with the connivance of the government. President C. B. D. King and his associates resigned, and international control of the republic was proposed. Under the leadership of presidents Edwin Barclay (1930–44) and William V. S. Tubman (1944–71), however, Liberia avoided such control.

Under Tubman, new policies to open the country to international investment and to allow the indigenous peoples a greater say in Liberian affairs were undertaken. The country's mineral wealth, particularly iron ore, began to be exploited, and there was a gradual improvement of roads, schools, and health standards. Upon Tubman's death in 1971, Vice President W. R. Tolbert took charge, and in 1972 he was elected to the presidency. Although Tolbert cultivated a democratic climate and favorable relations abroad, an organized opposition emerged early in his regime, some of it from Liberian students living in the United States. In 1979, a government proposal to increase the price of rice produced widespread violence. The Doe Regime and Return to Civilian Rule In 1980, Tolbert was assassinated in a coup led by Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe . Pledging a return to civilian rule in 1981, the government unleashed a campaign to subdue opposition. In 1984 the military government instituted a series of constitutional reforms that included shortening the presidential term and outlawing the formation of a one-party state.

Doe became Liberia's first indigenous president (by a fraudulent election) in 1985. The Doe government was infamous for corruption and human-rights abuses; it also became the target of numerous coup attempts. Thousands of refugees fled to Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire during this period. Late in 1989, Liberia was invaded from Côte d'Ivoire by rebel forces of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), led by Charles Taylor , who proclaimed himself president. The United States sent troops to the area when the NPFL threatened to take foreign hostages. Doe was assassinated in 1990 by another group of rebels led by Prince Yormie Johnson, who also sought the presidency. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) intervened to negotiate a peace settlement among the two rebel groups and the government. ECOWAS also sent a Nigerian-led West African peacekeeping force to Monrovia and installed an interim government led by Amos Sawyer. Taylor's forces, with military aid from Libya and Burkina Faso, began a siege of Monrovia in 1992 and engaged in fighting with ECOWAS forces.

A number of cease-fires were established in 1993 and 1994, but clashes between factions persisted. In Aug., 1995, a new peace accord was signed in Abuja, Nigeria, that provided for an interim government headed by Wilton Sankawulo, with national elections to be held late in 1996. In Apr., 1996, fierce factional fighting resumed in the capital; however, disarmament was begun later that year, and the war formally came to an end in 1997. It is estimated that between 150,000 and 200,000 lives were lost in the civil strife, with hundreds of thousands of refugees having fled the country. Multiparty presidential and legislative elections held in July, 1997, brought Charles Taylor to power. Under Taylor, the country remained economically devastated while he and his family enriched themselves by looting Liberia's resources. In the late 1990s, Liberia was accused of supplying troops to support rebel forces in Sierra Leone's civil war.

Taylor, a long-time ally of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone, had supplied the rebels with arms in exchange for diamonds. In 2000 the United Nations placed an 18-month ban on the international sale of the diamonds in an attempted to undermine the RUF, and in May of the following year it also imposed sanctions on Liberia. In mid-2001 fighting erupted in N Liberia between anti-Taylor rebels and government forces. The fighting intensified during the following year, and the rebels continued to expand the war into other regions of Liberia in 2003; that year the United Nations also placed an arms embargo (2003–9, modified in 2006 to allow the equipping of the military and police) on Liberia. By mid-2003 the rebels controlled roughly two thirds of the country and were threatening to seize Monrovia, leading to calls for Taylor to step down and for the United States, as a nation with historical ties to Liberia, to send peacekeeping forces. In August, Taylor resigned and went into exile; he was succeeded temporarily by his vice president, Moses Blah.

A peace agreement was signed with the two rebel groups, and several thousand West African peacekeepers, supported temporarily by an offshore U.S. force, arrived. In Oct., 2003, the West African force was placed under UN command and was reinforced with troops from other nations; businessman Gyude Bryant became president of a new power-sharing government. Despite the accord with the rebels, fighting initially continued in parts of the country; tensions among the factions in the national unity government also threatened the peace. By the end of 2004, however, more than 100,000 Liberian fighters had been disarmed, the former government and rebel forces had agreed not to rearm, and the disarmament program was ended. In June, 2004, a program to reintegrate the fighters into society began, but the funds proved inadequate by year's end. In light of the progress made President Bryant requested an end to the UN embargo on Liberian diamonds and timber, but the Security Council postponed such a move until the peace was more secure. Bryant's government was hindered by corruption and a lack of authority in much of Liberia, but the peace enabled to the economy recover somewhat in 2004.

In the presidential election in the fall of 2004 former soccer star George Weah won the first round with 28% of the vote, but lost the runoff in November to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf , a politician and former World Bank official who received nearly 60% of the second round votes. Weah charged that the runoff had been rigged, leading to street protests. Most observers regarded the election as having been free and fair, and Weah subseqently dropped his challenge of the vote. Sirleaf became the first woman to be elected president of an African nation. At the same time a new national legislature was also elected, with no party securing a controlling position. Sirleaf, under international pressure, requested in Mar., 2006, that Nigeria extradite Charles Taylor, who was then brought before an international tribunal in Sierra Leone to face war crimes charges arising from events during the Sierra Leone civil war (his trial was later transferred to The Hague for security purposes; he was convicted of war crimes in 2012).

In June, 2006, the United Nations ended its embargo on Liberian timber, but continued its diamond embargo until an effective certificate of origin program was established; the diamond embargo was finally lifted in Apr., 2007. In Mar., 2007, former interim president Bryant was arrested and charged with having embezzled government funds while in office. The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which had conducted a four-year investigation of the nation's civil strife, issued its report in July, 2009; it recommended that the president (who at originally supported Charles Taylor) and many other senior politicians be banned from politics for 30 years. In the 2011 presidential election, Sirleaf was reelected after Winston Tubman, her opponent in the November runoff, withdrew and called for a boycott. He asserted that the poll was rigged, but his claim was not backed by foreign observers or the supreme court, and the third place finisher had thrown his support to Sirleaf. Government corruption remains a significant problem in Liberia.

Sections in this article: American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society was established in 1816 by Robert Finley as an attempt to satisfy two groups in America. Ironically, these groups were on opposite ends of the spectrum involving slavery in the early 1800's. One group consisted of philanthropists, clergy and abolitionist who wanted to free African slaves and their descendants and provide them with the opportunity to return to Africa. The other group was the slave owners who feared free people of color and wanted to expel them from America. Both the these groups felt that free blacks would be unable to assimilate into the white society of this country. John Randolph, one famous slave owner called free blacks "promoters of mischief." At this time, about 2 million Negroes live in America of which 200,000 were free persons of color.

Henry Clay, a southern congressman and sympathizer of the plight of free blacks, believed that because of "unconquerable prejudice resulting from their color, they never could amalgamate with the free whites of this country." On December 21, 1816, a group of exclusively white upper-class males including James Monroe, Bushrod Washington, Andrew Jackson, Francis Scott Key, and Daniel Webster met at the Davis hotel in Washington D.C. with Henry Clay presiding over the meeting. They met one week later and adopted a constitution. During the next three years, the society raised money by selling membership using the certificate shown here. The Society's members relentlessly pressured Congress and the President for support. In 1819, they received $100,000 from Congress and in January 1820 the first ship, the Elizabeth, sail from New York headed for West Africa with three white ACS agents and 88 emigrants. The ship arrive first at Freetown, Sierra Leone then sailed south to what is now the Northern coast of Liberia and made an effort to establish a settlement. All three whites and 22 of the emigrants died within three weeks from yellow fever.

The remainders returned to Sierra Leone and waited from another ship. The Nautilus sail twice in 1821 and established a settlement at Mesurado Bay on an island they named Perseverance. It was difficult for the early settlers, made of mostly free-born blacks, who were not born into slavery, but were denied the full rights of American citizenship. The native Africans resisted the expansion of the settlers resulting in many armed conflicts. Nevertheless, in the next decade 2,638 African-Americans migrated to the area. Also, the colony entered an agreement with the U.S. Government to accept freed slaves captured from slave ships. During the next 20 years the colony continued to grow and establish economic stability. Since the establishment of the colony, the ACS employed white agents to govern the colony. In 1842, Joseph Jenkins Roberts became the first non-white governor of Liberia. In 1847, the legislature of Liberia declared itself an independent state, with J.J. Roberts elected as its first President. The society in Liberia developed into three segments: The settlers with European-African lineage; freed slaves from slave ships and the West Indies; and indigenous native people.

These groups would have a profound affect on the history of Liberia. ^ CNN.com - Nation settled by ex-slaves struggles for unity - Jul 23, 2004 Nation settled by ex-slaves struggles for unity July 26, 1847: Liberia officially founded By Amy Cox CNN An American family prepares for a journey to Liberia at the turn of the 20th century. VIDEO From the 1996 Olympic Park bombing to Lance Armstrong's fifth Tour de France victory, CNN looks back on the week of July 25th to 31st. Manage alerts | What is this? (CNN) -- Searching for a land of freedom and opportunity, thousands of former slaves left the United States in the 19th century and sailed across the Atlantic to a continent their ancestors had unwillingly left. Over the decades, freed blacks settled on the west coast of Africa in what is today Liberia. They established a nation on July 26, 1847, and also a relationship with Africans that continues to influence regional politics.

A colony for blacks outside the United States had been proposed several times, beginning in the 1700s, but it was the American Colonization Society's formation in 1817 that provided the impetus to make it a reality. "[Colonization] was supposed to be sort of a remedy for slavery and racial inequality in the country," said Claude Clegg, author of "The Price of Liberty: African Americans and the Making of Liberia." "Colonization was believed to be a middle ground -- you rid the nation of slavery but also rid the country of African Americans and the whole issue of race altogether." The Colonization Society attracted a mixed bag of supporters, Clegg said. Anti-slavery Quakers believed blacks would only find true freedom away from the United States; many slaveholders did not want free blacks in the country; and some freed blacks who wished to live in their ancestral homeland supported the group. Still, many other freed slaves and abolitionists opposed the idea of colonization, believing that those wishing to go to Africa should stay and fight for freedom in the United States.

"Many blacks said: 'We were born here and we have every right to be here as much as any group' and criticized those who wanted to leave," explained Wynfred Russell, who was born in Liberia and teaches classes on African-American and African studies at the University of Minnesota. Five years after its formation, the American Colonization Society launched its first ship to Liberia, founding a settlement named Monrovia, after U.S. President James Monroe. Over the decades, the number of blacks sailing to Liberia steadily increased. Settlers built schools, churches and roads and formed a government modeled on the United States. By the 1840s, many European countries had established colonies surrounding Liberia and were pressuring the colony, the American Colonization Society and even the United States to clarify Liberia's role and identity: Could it broker treaties and trade agreements? Could it levy taxes? And could England or France annex the area if it was not claimed by any other country? In response, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, who had immigrated to Liberia in 1829, publicly declared the colony an independent republic on July 26, 1847, and was elected president the next year.

The declaration created the first black-ruled republic in Africa. But tensions between the settlers and the indigenous people grew within the new nation. Seeds of civil war When the first settlers came ashore, they were not completely welcomed, according to Clegg. The new immigrants' takeover of land and the injection of U.S. customs and religion into the culture was resented. "It was the same issue as this country and any other settler society in which you have a native people and then others who have come to settle," said Clegg, a history professor at Indiana University. "Liberia is a mirror image of the United States and its settlement. Joseph Jenkins Roberts became Liberia's first elected president in 1848. "You have immigrants ... who are settling along the coast and seizing the lands and the labor -- and sometimes the lives -- of African people. They weren't particularly pleased to see the settlers arrive." This rift, vulnerability to African diseases, and the hardship of creating a Westernized nation disilllusioned many immigrants. "There was a certain amount of romantic sentiment that comes through some of the letters" (from immigrants), Clegg said. "There are those who believed they had a sort of long-standing connection with Africa.

"Maybe that facilitated the willingness of some people to project upon Africa their hopes and desires. Once they get there, many of them are shocked into a realization that they were very wrong about what Africa was about." But some did find what they were looking for. William Burke and his family sailed to Liberia in 1853 after they were freed by owner Robert E. Lee, later a celebrated Confederate general, and were enthusiastic about their new home. "I bless the Lord that ever my lot was cast in this part of the earth," Burke wrote after five years in Liberia, where he became a minister and educator. "The Lord has blessed me abundantly since my residence in Africa, for which I feel that I can never be sufficiently thankful." "I love Africa and would not exchange it for America," agreed Burke's wife, Rosabella, in a letter to the wife of her former owner Lee. By 1867, the American Colonization Society had sent more than 13,000 people, according to the Library of Congress. In these immigrants' quest to escape oppression in the United States, they created the same exclusionary practices they left behind and sowed the seeds for future civil conflict.

"They took a completely new political system that natives didn't know about and dominated the political system for 150 years," Russell said. Liberia today Decades after Liberia's founding, the same tensions between the ruling class -- the descendants of the freed black slaves, which make up about 5 percent of the population -- and the indigenous Africans spurred a 1980 coup. It marked an end to the settlers' dominance, as well as the beginning of decades of political instability. In 1989, Charles Taylor attacked the Liberian government, setting off a bloody civil war. After years in the United States, and elsewhere in exile, Charles Taylor returned in 1989 and with rebel forces attacked the Liberian government, setting off a bloody civil war. His regime ended in 2003 when Taylor -- under intense global pressure -- resigned and left the country as international peacekeepers entered. A United Nations' tribunal later indicted him for war crimes. Today, Liberia and the United States have very different views of one another. "I think many Liberians see the United States as sort of a godfather figure," Clegg said. "They see the United States as the place of their ancestors ...

[but] I think that's wishful thinking." The reality, said Clegg, is that most Americans do not see any special connection at all. Still, America's influence remains strong: the Liberian flag closely resembles the U.S. "stars and stripes," some architecture resembles 19th-century plantation houses, English is the official language and the U.S. dollar is accepted as currency. Now, the African nation is striving for political stability, said Russell, the native Liberian. Elections, overseen by an international peacekeeping force, are planned for fall 2005. "All indications are that Liberians are now serious for peace and a government that will be ushered in peacefully," he said. "The future is bright." Clegg agreed Liberia is poised for change, but cautioned against being overly optimistic. "Elections themselves are not the magic bullet," Clegg said. "I think it depends on what happens between now and then. Much less depends upon the election itself than the sort of institutions that take root in Liberia, how people are allowed to participate in the election process, how reconstruction efforts go, and how people think of the legitimacy of the election.

"It has to be the case Liberians buy into the idea that an election will matter, they will participate and be encouraged to participate, and that the election truly brings into power a government that has the best interest of Liberian people -- all the Liberian people, not just a certain group of Liberians." Story Tools

Question: Which African country was founded by Americans?
Answer: Liberia